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Given Second Chance, Astros Take Pitcher First

SECAUCUS, N.J. — It was a year later than expected, but the Houston Astros selected Mark Appel, a starting pitcher out of Stanford, with the first pick in Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft on Thursday night.

In the 2012 draft, Appel was expected by many to be taken by Houston with the top pick, but he was passed over as speculation swirled that his contract demands did not fit into the plans the Astros had for their assigned bonus pool. After falling to the Pittsburgh Pirates at No. 8, Appel could not come to contract terms and chose to return to Stanford for his senior season.

Given a second chance at Appel, a 6-foot-5 right-hander who grew up an Astros fan, Houston did not let him get by it again.

“This has been just a surreal moment for me and my family,” Appel, who lived in the Houston area until he was 12, said in a televised phone interview. “I’m going back home. It’s really an honor.”

Although some had feared that Appel’s going back to school would raise his risk of serious injury, he seemed to improve with another year of instruction from Rusty Filter, the pitching coach who at San Diego State worked with Stephen Strasburg.

Appel, 21, finished his four seasons with the Cardinal as the team’s career strikeouts leader, with 372 in 3772/3 innings. He also earned his college degree and dealt with a great deal of criticism for choosing not to sign with Pittsburgh. While he remained confident in his decision, he did not necessarily expect to go first to Houston this year.

Photo

The Astros selected Mark Appel, a 6-foot-5 right-hander from Stanford, as the first pick in Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft on Thursday.Credit
Phil Sears/Associated Press

“I don’t think I necessarily had an end goal in mind when I turned down the Pirates’ offer,” Appel said in a conference call arranged by the Astros. “My goals were to finish my degree, become a better baseball player, a better person and a better teammate.”

He chose not to speculate about when he could get the call to the majors, but some have predicted that could happen as early as this season.

“That is involved in the negotiation process,” Appel, who is represented by Scott Boras, said. “For me, right now I’m just spending time with my family.”

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The top pick is valued by M.L.B. at $7,790,400, and the Astros have a total pool of $11,698,600 to sign their first 10 picks. In years past, teams exceeded suggested salaries with impunity, but the league created bonus pools last season and established penalties for teams that exceed them.

If the Astros go beyond that total to accommodate Appel and their other picks, they will be subject to a series of penalties that begin with a 75 percent tax on the overage and go all the way up to the loss of two future first-round picks.

The second player off the board Thursday was Bryant, a third baseman from the University of San Diego who went to the Chicago Cubs. A rare slugger who is nearly impossible to strike out, Bryant, 21, hit an N.C.A.A.-leading 31 home runs in his junior season and struck out only 44 times. Many wonder, though, if Bryant, at 6-5, might be better suited to the outfield than either of the corner infield positions.

With the third pick, the Colorado Rockies took Gray, one of the biggest question marks heading into the draft. Gray, 21, was considered equal to Appel on talent alone, but his status was thrown up in the air when reports surfaced this week that he had tested positive for Adderall, which is banned by the league without a proper prescription. The Rockies clearly believed his talent outweighed any risk, especially because Gray will not face a suspension for any tests performed before he signed a professional contract.

The most controversial of the early picks was Hunter Dozier, a high school shortstop from Texas who went with the No. 8 pick to the Kansas City Royals. With Dozier ranked by Baseball America as the 39th-best player in the draft, his selection was most likely related to the Royals’ trying to save money for other players with their bonus pool.

Thursday featured the draft’s first two rounds as well as a short competitive-balance round after each of the two. The draft was scheduled to resume Friday at 12:30 p.m. for Rounds 3 through 10. The rest of the 40-round draft is set for Saturday, with Round 11 starting at 1 p.m.

A version of this article appears in print on June 7, 2013, on Page B15 of the New York edition with the headline: Given Second Chance, Astros Take Pitcher First. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe